NFL likely recommends more technique work in training camp

The NFL likely recommends a tweak to training camp schedules in an effort to reduce helmet hits in the opening days of training camp, Judy Battista of NFL Media reports.

The league will not change its rules now, but proposes a handshake agreement among teams that allows for a few additional days of technique work before full-contact practices begin this summer, per Battista. The league’s negotiating committee already has discussed eliminating organized team activities in the spring and instead moving those days to the start of training camp.

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The idea evolved from a meeting of coaches, league officials, game officials, current and former players and NFL Players Association officials on improving safety for offensive and defensive linemen.

Linemen take more repetitive hits than other players, according to Battista, and the NFL’s concussion data shows the number of concussions in the first two weeks of training camp has not changed.

“This is not punting to 2020,” Troy Vincent, the NFL’s executive vice president of football operations, told Battista. “How do we modify what this looks like this July? We have the data to support that we have to make changes. The data doesn’t lie. The data has been very consistent.”